US, Russia agree 'Star Wars' talks

Ivanov and Powell: The beginning of engagement

Russia and the United States have agreed to hold talks on American plans for a national missile defence shield.

The talks were agreed at a meeting in Cairo between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

This is the beginning of the engagement between the Bush administration and the Putin administration

Colin Powell

Mr Powell was in Cairo at the start of a six-nation tour of the Middle East, his first foreign trip since taking office.

Russia is strongly opposed to plans for the shield, known as "Son of Star Wars".

The meeting was billed as a get-to-know-you session and no major breakthroughs were expected on such a lengthy and tricky issue.

However, a State Department official travelling with Mr Powell said the two sides had agreed to a meeting of experts to discuss nuclear arms reduction and the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.

This would also look into the US missile defence plan.

Russian concern

"This is the beginning of the engagement between the Bush administration and the Putin administration," Mr Powell said.

The Russian president has proposed his own missile defence

US President George W Bush said on Friday he was confident of persuading other countries to accept a US missile defence shield.

Russia believes that plans for the shield, which is meant to provide protection against nuclear attack by so-called rogue states, would provoke a new arms race.

It has threatened to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty if the US goes ahead with its plan.

Divisive ploy?

Moscow has responded to the plan by proposing its own much cheaper defensive shield, involving a mobile anti-missile system which could be deployed quickly to counter any threat.

Western analysts say the proposal may be a ploy to divide the US from its European partners, who are lukewarm about NMD.

But Mr Powell said he was interested in Russia's proposal, which showed that Moscow recognised that there was a threat posed by rogue states.